For what it's worth, here's my advice to the GOP Establishment: cut the tea partiers loose, and that includes those in your majority House conference.
You'll never again win the White House with the tea party base pulling you down and far to the right. Tea partiers are demographic poison for you; in their intoxicated, ideological flourishes they're happy to lose on what they bizarrely call principle, but you, the more electorally motivated GOPers, understand that politics and governance always come tinged with pragmatism and compromise. The two factions will forever be irreconcilable, an internal tension and, ultimately, a permanently losing proposition.
Cut the tea partiers loose. Cut them loose in the House and cut them in the Senate. Yes, you'll lose your House majority control for two years, but you'll gain a fundamental reorganization of political sanity that will pay immense rewards down the road.
And you'll have your party back--the real Republican Party of Lincoln and T.R. and Eisenhower, not this disgrace of a doctrinaire daycare center.
Well if Mitch McConnel's statement last night was any indication of things to come, either the chances of that are not too likely, or Mitch is one of the ones that needs to be cut loose.
Posted by: AnneJ | November 07, 2012 at 11:05 AM
The ghost of William F. Buckley is here to tell you that Eisenhower had plenty of criticism from "conservatives" back in the day. It's the party of Strom Thurmond now.
Posted by: Bruce Adams | November 07, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Has anyone heard from Jennifer Rubin today? Hopefully she's nursing a hangover so severe it's like the world ended inside her head. Which for her - come to think of it - it kinda did.
Posted by: nepat | November 07, 2012 at 11:35 AM
I would add that Republicans should be glad in some ways that Romney did not win. It would be very bad for our politics and our country if a unashamedly dishonest and cynical strategy became the new model for winning elections.
Posted by: Ian | November 07, 2012 at 11:50 AM
Consider this possiblealternative universe in January 2009. The GOP leadership pulls all the GOP senators and congressmen together for a meeting. Once again, they vow to unanimously oppose newly elected President Obama on all issues - related to taxes and the economy only.
On culture wars they commit to pick and choose "moderate" counter-positions. Send McCain and Rubio to lead negotiations toward a right-of-center Dream Act. Negotiate a right-of-center implementation schedule to ending Don't Ask Don't Tell. Adopt a public position to support equal pay for women but question the specifics of the Lily Ledbetter Act.
You know, just avoid pissing off 70% of the country.
Would Obama have won?
Posted by: Robert Lipscomb | November 07, 2012 at 11:59 AM